


Lofe Is Just A Click Away

by RoyalFlushGang



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Falling In Love, Gaming, Love, Online Friendship, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9414266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyalFlushGang/pseuds/RoyalFlushGang
Summary: One Shot! Set from Marianne's perspective. Online computer gaming and lofe. - Human AU.





	1. Chapter 1

The King of the Goblins and the Dark Forest sat quietly upon his throne, contemplating the day's events. The exchange of partnerships, usual talk from his mother over his evening meal and dealings with the young princess of the neighbouring realm. It had gone surprisingly well given the ordeal last night, he was content with silence for the short time he had the room to himself. That was until the cracking of glass above him caused him to look upwards and see a silhouette of a fairy flying full speed towards him pointing her sword towards his nose and looking rather pissed off.

“Release my sister!” Marianne yelled, her sword swung towards the tall King who parried the attack with his staff.

“Oh no, not another princess!” The King whined, his lips curled to a snarl as he bared a row of crooked teeth, glaring at Marianne.

Marianne launched herself from their locked stance; her wings beating against one another so hard their thud echoed around the room, she charged towards him again, the wind biting at her cheeks, blowing her pixie short hair away from her hazel eyes as they flared with anger.

The uproarious sound of steel against wood burst through the room as Marianne’s sword clashed against the King’s staff. The fight took them around the room, up in the air - thanks to the high ceilings of the King’s castle, furniture was knocked over and broken, his throne almost had a chunk taken from it as the fairy used it for additional leverage over the taller opponent. The battle was epic, equal on both sides for skill and speed.

“Impressive, you fight well - for a _fairy_ ” The King commented as they stood gridlocked in battle, his eyes glowing blue and his grin playful.

“Wish I could the same for you, I was expecting more…” Marianne laughed, her hand waving at him dismissively, The King’s jaw loosen as he stared at her, the shocked expression quickly changing as he charged towards her with his staff. She raised her sword ready to parry his attack.

A high pitched voice called out just as the two weapons were about to clash, “Cookies are done!”

A chorus of jealous groans could be heard from the speakers as Dawn placed the plate of fresh cookies on Marianne’s desk. “Dawn! I was just about to take out the King and save your ass! Cookies can wait!” Marianne’s attention left the computer screen for a second to prevent the plate of cookies tipping onto her keyboard.

“Too late, Tough Girl. I win this time!” A male voice with a Scottish accent called out from the computer, followed by a triumphant cackle and yell of “I am invincible!”

Marianne looked up at the screen to watch her fairy warrior drop to the floor and the Goblin King stand over her body flexing his muscles and tea-bagging her. She growled at Dawn who gave an innocent smile, “Oops, I didn’t realise we were still in battle! I thought you guys had finished already!” biting her bottom lip and looking guiltily towards her sister.

Marianne huffed a lock of hair from her face and glared at Dawn, “We will never hear the end of this now, y’know realise that?” grabbing a cookie from the plate and pulled her head set back on as the laughing from the speakers had been interrupted by another voice, a female this time.

“Alright, Bog, we get it - you won. Can you stop quoting Boris already, you only won because Marianne got interrupted, she’d have totally kicked your ass otherwise!”

“Yeh, yeh, that’s what you would say, Stuff! Just because yer a guuurrrllll defending Marianne!” Bog called back.

“That is not at all the reason! She was kicking your ass dude, just face it - Thang, Sunny, back me up here!” Stuff replied.

“Stuff is right, BK, sorry man but she’d have whooped your ass had she been playing.” Another voice chipped in, Dawn grabbed Marianne’s headset and pulled it towards her, Marianne still being attached was almost dragged off the chair with a yelp.

“Hey Sunny! I miss you!” Dawn called down the microphone as Marianne tried desperately to free herself from the strangling wires, she choked out and grabbed the headset back, “He’s in the other room, Dawn! Go away and feed him cookies! Shoo! Shoo!” Marianne pushed Dawn gently away from her desk, “I know but he’s just so cute! I wanna just smooch him all the time”.

“Then go and do it in your own side of the apartment! Geez, this is a love-free zone, remember!” Marianne replied as she watched Dawn cross the living room into her bedroom, Sunny was waiting at the door for her and the two embraced one another in a hug which swiftly lead to kissing. “Urgh!” Marianne cried out, pulling herself away from the door and slamming it shut, flopping back into her computer chair and shimming herself up to the desk as the conversation through her speakers continued.

“I dannae care what either of you say, I won! I’m taking this as a victory!” Bog’s voice spoke out, another male voice was trying to interrupt but failing miserably and Stuff’s microphone had gone completely silent.

“It’s cool, Thang, let’s give him this minor victory. If it takes me being distracted for him to lose we just know how bad he is at the game after all.” Marianne taunted back through her headset, grinning to herself as Bog’s icon light up on her screen as if he was about to say something but it was silent.

“Ooo, now you’ve done it, Marianne. Think I’ll give Stuff a hand with the kids. See you guys online again tomorrow night, same time?” Thang asked.

“Yeh, see you tomorrow night, 8pm. Say good-night to Stuff for me please Thang, and tell her I’m sorry I let her die - the guards were too hard tonight and took her straight out before I had the chance to charge.”

“That’s okay, Marianne. I should have not cast my swift heal on Sunny so early, the cooldown cost me the love of my life. And now I need to go and apologise profusely and hope she doesn’t make me sleep on the sofa like the last time I let her die, she didn’t forgive me for a week!” Thang laughed nervously, “Good night, BK.”

“Yerh, night” Bog muttered quietly in reply.

“Night guys!” Thang said before his icon disconnected from the chat party, swiftly followed by Stuff’s. A few minutes later Dawn and Sunny had both disconnected from the online chat leaving just Marianne and Bog in the room, neither of them had said a word in the passing five minutes since Thang went.

“Hey Bog, I was only kidding y’know. We all know you’re really good at this game, you’re the best of all of us, no-one can play the Goblin King quite like you. I love when I’m up against you, the game feels so much more immersive and well, fun.”

Bog’s icon lite up again, Marianne waited patiently for him to speak although he remained quiet for the first minute before he finally spoke up, his voice quieter than before, “Thanks, Marianne. Least I know I’m good at being the bad guy, seems that’s all I’m good at.”

Marianne had known Bog for almost a year, their friendship had started after she’d replied to a forum post requesting an extra player for a weekly computer gaming session, originally it was only Bog and his friends, Thang and Stuff. Shortly after Marianne had started to play Sunny announced he’d bought the game too so joined their community, eventually Dawn became a member too but always insisted on playing the innocent fairy and spent most of her time in game flying around picking flowers.

“You’re not a bad guy, Bog. Not even close. You’re one of the funniest, smartest, caring guys I’ve ever known. You are always checking on Dawn even if all she does is pick flowers, you make sure Sunny has plenty of resurrection stones, you gave Thang and Stuff half your gold to help them out because they didn’t have as much time to play because of the kids. And you’re always willing to give me a fair fight, you never underestimate me or shrug me off for being a girl. Sure you might play a good bad guy, but you aren’t a bad guy - you certainly aren’t on Roland level of being a bad guy!”

Marianne had always been a fan of computer games when she was younger, although her father claimed they weren’t “girly enough” he would buy her the most up to date console or game to keep her happy. When she met Roland however that changed, she changed - he wanted a princess of a girlfriend; dresses instead of gaming t-shirts, bracelets instead of festival wristbands, exclusive VIP parties instead of gaming nights. Marianne had changed who she was to suit what Roland had wanted, he was so handsome and liked by everyone she thought it was the right thing to do, but inside she always felt a little off. When the time had come for them to marry she’d walked into Roland’s apartment the day before the wedding to find him in bed with his secretary. The wedding was called off, Roland was thrown from her life and she moved five states away to bunk with her sister and her boyfriend for a temporary time - that was just over fifteen months ago and there was still no sign of her moving out, but she was happier here and that’s all that mattered.

A chat window pinged up on Marianne’s screen, “<3” from Bog, she smiled, her heart began to beat faster as she replied “<3 <3”.

“Good night, Bog. See you tomorrow.” She whispered into the mic before disconnecting from the chat and shutting down her computer.

~~~~~~

The next few days had been too busy to allow Marianne to log on to her computer, she missed talking to Bog, their texts weren’t quite the same as hearing his Scottish take on things. In the evenings whilst at home watching tv, Dawn and Sunny cuddled on the sofa next to her, she found herself thinking more and more of the moody Scot.

Finishing work on Friday couldn’t come quick enough, as she waved bye to her colleagues her phone beeped.

_“See you tonight, Princess. I hope you’re ready to be defeated again!”_

She couldn’t help the wide smile spreading across her lips as she read it, frantically typing a reply as she walked to her car.

_“I’m coming straight on for you!”_

Her phone beeped to notify her of the reply, she stopped dead in her tracks as she read it, “I look forward to it, Tough Girl.” She could feel the heated blush crawling up her neck and across her cheeks, she bit down on her bottom lip as she replied.

_“You don’t stand a chance, Boggy!”_ Marianne giggled to herself knowing Bog would be grumbling at the nickname Dawn always calls him, as she entered her car, starting the engine she saw a text ping on her phone.

_“BOG!”_

Her giggling grew into a laughing fit from the moment she reversed out of the car park till her arrival home, carrying chinese for evening meal to allow everyone to get online earlier, meaning longer hours of gaming. “Guys, I’m home - I’ve brought Chinese!” Marianne called out to the room, expecting a reply but silence greeted her. “Guys…?” Again, not a whisper was heard, as she entered the kitchen she saw the note stuck to the fridge, “Sorry I didn’t text, phone is on charge. Sunny and I are out with friends tonight, good luck for the fight against Boggy! We’ll be back late, don’t wait up. ~ Love you x”

Marianne sighed heavily, as much as she loved her sister she wasn’t the most organised person in the world and as her eyes fell to the four containers of chinese food on the bench, she began thinking of Bog again and how if he’d been here she could have spent the night scoffing noodles and beating up dragons with him instead.

“When did I get so strung up on Bog? Yeesh. Acting like I’m in love or something.” She would often talk to herself when alone in the apartment, her mind would wander to darker places otherwise, but this particular sentence even caught her off-guard. She shook her head firmly in an attempt to shake the idea from within but it stuck firm, the thoughts became heated as she walked around the kitchen unpacking a box of noodles and chicken that she began to argue with herself.

“He’s just a nice guy, of course you’re gonna feel something towards him as your friend.”

“Come on Marianne, he’s more than just a ‘nice guy’, he’s a million times better than Roland - a cockroach would be better than Roland. He makes you laugh, you love hearing his voice, he has that really sexy accent..”

“No! He’s just a friend with a really hot accent, can play a Goblin King as good as Bowie, makes me laugh and understands my need to swing a sword around in a fantasy world.”

She stopped in the middle of her kitchen, noodles hanging from her fork as the realisation sunk in and she spoke aloud again.

“I’m in love with Bog.”

~~~~

The hours leading up to 8pm dragged at a snail’s pace as Marianne wandered around her apartment repeating the idea of how to approach the situation with Bog. She knew he was single - they’d shared stories of past relationships one night after gaming, they were always the last two who would leave the chat room and would often be the first two online. Marianne couldn’t deny the times of just the two of them were her favourite as they’d share jokes, make fun of one another in jest, knew the other would always be there to talk to if they were having a bad day. The online chat had turned into weekly texting and messaging whilst at work, this in turn had become hourly as the pair became closer throughout the months their friendship group played together. It was no surprise really that Marianne had fallen head over heels in love with him, she just didn’t know if he felt the same way, convincing herself once it was just the two of them tonight, she’d tell him how she felt - anything afterwards was unknown territory.

_“Maybe we should just go back to not telling him...”_ Thoughts ran through her head as she took her seat in front of the computer and plugged in her headset and connected to the chat, her heart replied _“Try thinking of this as an adventure…”_

“Hey Fairy Princess. There’s no Thang or Stuff tonight, Brutus has an ear infection and won’t settle” Bog announced, “Stuff insisted Thang should come and play but he declined - think he’s still sucking up to her after the no healing, instant death incident from the other night.” Bog’s laughter caused her heart to thump in her chest and a warm rush chase her pulse.

“Oh, that sucks. Well, Dawn and Sunny are out on date night tonight too so I guess it’s just me and you, I don’t fancy kicking your ass without an audience though so how about we just crack open a few beers and chat?” Marianne found herself twirling the corner of her jumper around her thumb, something she only ever did when she was nervous.

“That sounds good to me, Tough Girl. I’ll be right back, need to grab some ice from the fridge for ma whisky, if I’m gonna drink I’ll do it properly!”

“Whisky, that’s not a bad idea, shame you don’t live closer, I’d steal the bottle after the week I’ve had” Marianne replied, thinking that Bog wasn’t actually listening as he’d left to go get some ice, she continued chatting, “They say it can only get better but how me telling you I’m head over heels in love with you can help anyone right now given you’re on the other side of the country right now can help is beyond me.” Marianne’s voice choked the last few words as realism began to crawl into her dream of being with Bog, even if he felt the same way, which she was sure he most definitely didn’t, the chances of him traveling to New York from Scotland just for her was slim to none. Marianne was startled from her thoughts and quiet sobs as she heard a scuffle on the other end of the call.

“Er, Marianne..These are my new headphones remember? They’re er..Wireless, I heard everything you just said.” Bog spoke quietly, his voice staggering with emotion.

“Then, erm… Byeeee!” The chink of ice hitting glass was the last noise Marianne heard before she quickly shut off the chat, pulled her headset from the PC and threw it across the room, throwing herself to her pillow and began to sob her heart out cursing her stupidity.

Marianne eventually woke up the next morning, her head hurt, her heart ached and her eyes were sore from crying. She slowly opened the door to see Dawn and Sunny sitting on the sofa, Dawn stood up instantly and walked over to Marianne throwing her arms around her into a hug.

“You okay? We got home last night and you wouldn’t open your door, I could hear you were upset but didn’t want to bother you too much. I tried to get in touch with Boggy in case he knew what was going on but he wasn’t online. What happened? Has Roland caused problems again?” Dawn asked gently, brushing the hair from Marianne’s eyes and soothingly running her hand up and down her back as she hugged her tightly.

“No, no Roland. I - I - I’m fine. I just realised I made a huge mistake and think I’ve just lost my best friend.”

“What? Who? How? I mean, I’m your sister and I’m standing right here so I know you don’t mean me. Do you mean Boggy? What happened?” Dawn’s gentle questioning became frantic as Sunny stood up and approached the sisters, holding his hand out to Dawn and reassuringly stroked his fingers over her hand.

“I told him I loved him. I love him, Dawn, I love Bog. I love someone I’ve never met who lives on the other side of the world and I don’t even know if he loves me!” Marianne’s words tumbled out of her mouth quicker than she expected, she sniffled sharply and pushed herself away from her sister shaking her head. “I’m a fool, Dawn. Love is nothing but trouble, what’s the point? It’s just gonna be lies and more lies, pain, sorrow - just like the last time! Just like Roland!”

“Wait!” Dawn’s voice cut through Marianne’s ranting before she could continue, “I actually like Bog. He’s lovely, he makes you laugh, you two spend near enough every waking minute talking, you battle like you’re true enemies yet always end as friends, I wish you could see how much he loves you - not Roland type love. Real love.”

Marianne sighed, her shoulders flopping forwards as she looks to Sunny who in turn is nodding his head in agreement with Dawn. “You drive me crazy!” Grabbing Dawn’s shoulders and shaking her softly, “I know you’re right and now I hate you for being right as I have to go face this and accept what comes of it!” she plants a kiss on the forehead of her sister and runs back into her room, switching on the computer and firing up the chat window, it’s empty and there’s no sign of Bog.

“He was on last four hours ago. I guess all I can do is wait till he comes back on.”

~~~ ONE WEEK LATER ~~~

It had been the longest, crappiest week of Marianne’s life - even the one with Roland and the wedding wasn’t this bad. She’d received a notice of departure from her best website developer; as one of the cities most successful graphic designers the website was a key feature to her company and his departure could potentially cost her a lot of money. She’d not heard from Bog at all since last Friday night, even the others had no luck tracking him down and he hadn’t signed onto chat or the game since she’d checked on the Saturday morning. Her emotions were a mess she couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep and was running on coffee which after almost six straight days wasn’t even boosting her energy anymore, she was drained, mentally, physically and emotionally.

As she left the office on Friday afternoon the receptionist called for her she stepped out of the elevator. “Marianne! A Mr King was asking for you today, you were in a meeting at the time of his visit and I advised him to call back later, he said he’ll wait around but seems to have disappeared.”

Marianne sighed, rubbing her temple with her right hand, checking her cell for any texts or calls from either Dawn or her recruitment team, it read blank. “Did he say what he was here for? If it’s the job there’s interviews being held next week, get him to call me on my cell if he really wants to discuss anything with me - but only this time, I don’t want everyone contacting me, that’s what the agency are meant to be doing.”

“Yes ma’am. Should I tell him to return Monday or would you prefer to speak to him first?”

Marianne’s temper was short and she snapped, “Any. Argh, no - tell him to call me first. I’m leaving for the weekend and I shall speak to anyone else on Monday. Have a good weekend.” She left before allowing the receptionist to reply, slipping into the revolving door, trading places with the man who stepped out.

She called Dawn as she climbed into her car, “Hey Dawn, you fancy chinese tonight? Thought I’d best check in this time before I end up buying too much again. And are you guys playing tonight?”

“Hey! Yeh, chinese sounds good - can you pick up though, and yes, we’re both playing tonight.”

“Great, I’ll just order one for delivery, I can not face more people today. I just wanna get home, strip into my pjs, stuff my face with sweet chicken noodles and kick some goblin ass!”

Dawn’s laughter sounded like a harmony to her tired head, “Sounds good sis, see you at home.”

Marianne ended the call and followed it up with an order from Lou’s chinese to be delivered within an hour, just enough time for her to get home and change into the Batman pjs that were sitting on her bed screaming her name.

An hour later Marianne was sitting with Dawn and Sunny on the sofa watching mindless soaps before their gaming session when there was a knock at the door.

“That’ll be the chinese, I’ll get it!” Marianne announced as she jumped to her feet, heading to the door and opening it to step back and gasp in shock, the man holding the chinese was not their usual delivery man.

“Order for one Fairy Princess?” The Scottish twang on the words made Marianne’s insides melt, her heart jumped so much within her chest she was sure it was about to burst through her body like the scene from Alien.

“B-b-Bo--”

Marianne couldn’t finish, Bog stepped forward, dropping the chinese to the ground, he cupped her face in his long fingers, leaned down and stared into her eyes before whispering as his lips connected with hers, “I love you too, Tough Girl.”

~~~~ QUEST COMPLETE ~~~~


	2. Wrap Up..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happened after the main story for the two lofe birds, and a brief explanation as to how it all came together in the end.

The following months were filled with happiness for Marianne, following the initial shock and surprise for everyone of Bog’s arrival, which had included Dawn squealing and hugging Bog till he blushed so much he looked like he would pass out. Bog settled down to explain how he’d tried to contact Marianne constantly after her outburst on the Friday night but without any luck. He’d booked the next flight to America for the Saturday morning, arriving early Monday three states away. Hiring a car he drove himself over to New York and spent two days trying to track her down. He knew she she owned her own graphic design company but didn’t know the name so had spent most of his week visiting all of them within the city trying to find her, turns out he’d been Mr King earlier that day.

Bog was also a website designer, Marianne hired him immediately and arranged for payment of his flights home to collect his belongings, rented an apartment for him to stay whilst he carried out the necessary arrangements for his move to America. Having stayed at Bog’s apartment nearly every night since he’d settled permanently, Marianne had moved in, complete with Batman pjs which Bog had insisted she wore as often as possible and bought himself some matching Robin pjs.

The gaming continued for the six friends, Marianne remained the Fairy Princess who was a dab hand with a sword - Bog had one crafted for her which hung above their fireplace in the apartment. Dawn spent most of her time collecting flowers which were all eventually sold on in-game auction house and earned her so much money she was richer than Bog. The Goblin King retired from his fighting against the Fairy Princess and instead joined her and the others on their quests together against the dragons and demons of the land. Sunny had now learned a spell to bring himself back to life so was often found hanging out on the top of one of the highest buildings in the game showing off to the new players as he resurrected himself. Thang had practised his healing so much Stuff never died again, but the others did, he would always reply with “It’s not your sofa I would end up on” which eventually became the name of their community group as they started to recruit more players. 

As Marianne logged off each night she’d look over to Bog as he logged off and smile, her heart fluttered just being in the same room as him and now sharing their lives together was the greatest adventure she could have dreamt of. 


End file.
